First of all this is an awesome forum, thanks everybody.
I just bought a 99 3.0 4x4 XLT for my son. Last weekend we replaced the rear shackles and hangers, that wasn't too bad of a job, took about 8 hours of work. Doing lots of other small work also, new power window regulators, changing fluids, fixed RH power door lock, etc....
The truck has some squeaks on the front end, I'm not sure if it's the ball joints, tieords, bushings, or what. Sometimes I hear it, and sometimes I don't. It's mostly noticable when driving and turning the steering wheel slowly around the house, at speed you can't hear it. I know the power steering pump can be noisy, and that's not it. The front end seems tight and stable when driving, it's just the low speed squeaks that bother me. I've read lots of threads here about changing ball joints/control arms and I'll do that if I have too, but I'd like to be sure I'm doing the right thing before I spend the money on parts.
Now my question.
I was underneath looking around and noticed that the upper left control arm ia a 1-piece and the upper right control arm is a 2-piece, is this normal? Also the rubber bushings on the lower ball joints were different colors, so someone in the past might have just changed one side.
What's the best way to narrow down my front end squeak, should I just WD-40 spray all the moving parts one at a time to locate the squeak, maybe just replace the control arms and ball joints, or don't worry about it until it becomes more obvious what the problem is?
I just bought a 99 3.0 4x4 XLT for my son. Last weekend we replaced the rear shackles and hangers, that wasn't too bad of a job, took about 8 hours of work. Doing lots of other small work also, new power window regulators, changing fluids, fixed RH power door lock, etc....
The truck has some squeaks on the front end, I'm not sure if it's the ball joints, tieords, bushings, or what. Sometimes I hear it, and sometimes I don't. It's mostly noticable when driving and turning the steering wheel slowly around the house, at speed you can't hear it. I know the power steering pump can be noisy, and that's not it. The front end seems tight and stable when driving, it's just the low speed squeaks that bother me. I've read lots of threads here about changing ball joints/control arms and I'll do that if I have too, but I'd like to be sure I'm doing the right thing before I spend the money on parts.
Now my question.
I was underneath looking around and noticed that the upper left control arm ia a 1-piece and the upper right control arm is a 2-piece, is this normal? Also the rubber bushings on the lower ball joints were different colors, so someone in the past might have just changed one side.
What's the best way to narrow down my front end squeak, should I just WD-40 spray all the moving parts one at a time to locate the squeak, maybe just replace the control arms and ball joints, or don't worry about it until it becomes more obvious what the problem is?